Dishing it up with Allison Pang

I’m thrilled to have Urban Fantasy author Allison Pang on my blog today. Her book A BRUSH OF DARKNESS came out this week and she was kind enough to carve out some time to hang with us. Here’s a little intro to Allison:

A marine biologist in a former life, Allison Pang turned to a life of crime to finance her wild spending habits and need to collect Faberge eggs. A cat thief of notable repute, she spends her days sleeping and nights scaling walls and wooing dancing boys….Well, at least the marine biology part is true. But she was taloned by a hawk once. She also loves Hello Kitty, sparkly shoes, and gorgeous violinists. She spends her days in Northern Virginia working as a cube grunt and her nights waiting on her kids and cats, punctuated by the occasional husbandly serenade. Sometimes she even manages to write. Mostly she just makes it up as she goes.

JET: I had the pleasure of reading A BRUSH OF DARKNESS under its original title way back when and I’m looking forward to reading the final version when it arrives at my doorstep. For those not familiar with this fabulous story, it is a unique blend of human nature and the world of faeries and incubus and unicorns, but I’ll let Allison tell you folks a little about the book…

Allison: It’s the story of Abby Sinclair, who is pretty much a normal girl, essentially tossed into this mystical world that overlaps our own. Everything she does has political repercussions, but directions are hard to come by and she finds herself struggling to figure out how to manage. When her Faery boss goes missing, Abby is forced to try to find her, joined by a perverted unicorn and a sexy incubus, who may or may not be setting her up.

JET: What made you choose Urban Fantasy as a genre?

Allison: I had originally written A BRUSH OF DARKNESS as a Paranormal Romance, which has many of the same elements as an Urban Fantasy. My editor decided it would read better as a UF, so I rewrote a chunk of the book to fit that. The main difference is that there tends to be more world building in a UF, and the romance (if there is one) isn’t technically required. (Whereas a paranormal romance is really all about the romance.)

JET: What’s been your most challenging hurdle on the road to publication?

Allison: Just learning to trust my own instincts when it comes to my writing. When I first started out I was constantly being swayed by whoever’s opinion I was getting and that was detrimental, since everyone had a different idea of what I “should” have been doing.

JET: What was your favorite moment in the journey?

Allison: Finding out my book was going to auction.

JET: Which authors had the most influence over you growing up?

Allison: Honestly, there are many, but some of the classics like Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn have always stuck with me. The lyrical prose in particular just struck a chord that never really went away.

JET: When did you know you wanted to take the plunge into the writing world?

Allison: I don’t know really. I’d been writing a little project with a friend for fun a few years ago, and that was my first foray back into writing in nearly 15 years. Somewhere in that process I decided to investigate what was involved with getting published and wrote A Brush of Darkness as a sort of “starter novel”…only it actually sold!

JET: What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of book research? Most interesting fact you uncovered?

Allison: Sadly, nothing. I really didn’t do much research on this particular book – just drew on the knowledge I already had.

JET: Any advice for the novices out there?

Allison: Just to keep writing. Nothing will make you better at the craft of writing than to actually do it. (And I speak of personal experience. Sometimes it’s easier to hide behind a ton of workshops and “how to” books than it is to actually put the words on the page.)

JET: All right – now that I’ve hammered you with the big questions, let’s tackle my favorite (and geeky) quick ten. . . starting with Paper or Plastic?

Allison: Paper

JET: Steak or Tofu?

Allison: Gah. Depends, honestly. I was vegetarian for a long while. I’ve got back to eating meat some, but it depends on how its cooked. I don’t mind the tofu, though.

JET: Beach or Mountains?

Allison: Beach

JET: Country or Rock-n-Roll?

Allison: Rock

JET: Classics or Modern?

Allison: Classics

JET: Silent Film Classics or Cheesy B Rated Horror?

Allison: Cheesy Horror

JET: Zombies or Demons?

Allison: Demons

JET: Paper or Digital?

Allison: Digital

JET: Salty or Sweet?

Allison: Both?

JET: Coffee or Tea?

Allison: Tea

JET: Thank you for indulging me. Before we wrap this up, can you tell us what you’re working on now? What’s next?

Allison: The second book in the BoD series was just turned in, so now I’m gearing up to get started on the third. I’ve also got a few other things in the works – an epic fantasy and a YA Steampunk, but they’re not quite ready for primetime.

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat on my blog. Folks, you can find out more about Allison Pang and her work on her website: http://www.heartofthedreaming.com/
Next week is the first Friday in February and I’ll be highlighting some new releases from my Backspace friends. Stop by to see what’s coming to the bookshelves near you!